Posts Tagged ‘pipelines’

It seems like only yesterday that big winter storms or other extreme weather events could curtail or shut natural gas production in the US. A winter storm and freezing temperatures in the Northeast or in the Southeast would prompt freeze-offs or shut-ins along pipelines. But perhaps no longer.

Relations between Gazprom and the European Commission have sunk to an all-time low over the past year as Ukraine breaks up and the civilian and military death toll in the east rises.

Gazprom is too closely related to the government – and the president Vladimir Putin in particular – for it to be seen as a gas production, transport and supply company just like any other. Gazprom inevitably takes some of the heat for the activities in the Kremlin.

The EC has already imposed sanctions on Russian companies. But if an outright ban on Russian gas is too damaging for its own end-users, the EC can also employ other means – directives, anti-trust probes, exemption clauses and all the other weapons in its armoury – to limit Russia’s ability to profit from Europe.

The oil industry has often heard itself being criticized from within for not being bolder in sending a broadly positive message about what it does. Hydrocarbons make modern life possible; without them, we’re back to the mid-1800’s. And we should be telling the world that, pushing back against the naysayers. That’s the gist of the criticism.

That wasn’t on display at the World LP Gas Forum in Miami this week, where I was asked to moderate a panel of LPG experts entitled “Mind the Gap.” The gap in this question is the growing surge of LPG supply and the very real question of how it is going to get consumed.

Now that the global crude oil markets are in the middle of a sort of upheaval, it seems increasingly harder to have clear thoughts or emotions about what the future holds. There are so many nuances to the slowly emerging new order that it can be difficult to find underlying issues (something we strive to do every month with this feature) or take a firm stand on how you think things will shake out in the future (see our No. 2 pick).

In the October version of The Oil Big Five, we have some officials trying to establish their region’s role in the future, even as everything is uncertain. We also have price movements and crude movements, and we’re hoping this all moves you to leave us a comment. Leave us your thoughts below. What do you think of these topics, and what did we leave off that’s a big issue to you? Or share your ideas on Twitter with the hashtag #oilbig5. Read what our oil editors and analysts nominated as the top issues for the moment, and we look forward to featuring your comments next week.

A few miles east of Texas State Highway 19, a conspicuous circle of valves, gauges and metal tanks sits in the middle of lush, green farm land. This property, owned by one family for almost two centuries, has become one of the latest stakes claimed by an industry that has already found great success with similar sites across Texas.

Behind the wheel of a bright red truck, on the way to town to see her grandchildren, Susan, the landowner, smiles and shakes her head.

“They say we live on an oil field,” she says. “I say we live on a ranch.”

Practicing politics in Massachusetts must be like steering a ship toward a safe harbor while running away from a hurricane. Certainly Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, who is being battered by environmentalists, must feel that way.